Alex Murdaugh requests speedy trial, gag order in double-murder case

BY AVERY G. WILKS and KAILEY COTA

WALTERBORO - Alex Murdaugh's defense attorneys on July 20 pushed a judge for a speedy trial on charges accusing the disbarred lawyer of fatally shooting his wife and son. They also announced an agreement with state prosecutors to seek a gag order limiting public information on the high-profile case until that trial begins.

Columbia lawyer Dick Harpootlian asked Circuit Judge Clifton Newman for a trial by November, saying his client wants to clear his name so state police can find Maggie and Paul Murdaugh's real "killer or killers."

Creighton Waters, a prosecutor for the S.C. Attorney General's Office, pushed back on that request, saying a trial in January might be more realistic. He asked a judge to allow discovery to proceed and wait a few weeks before setting a trial date.

Waters offered few clues about what evidence investigators have tying the once-prominent trial lawyer to the 2021 grisly double homicide at his family's Colleton County hunting lodge. The July 14 indictments allege that Murdaugh killed Maggie, 52, with a rifle and Paul, 22, with a shotgun. Yet the documents provided no indication of Murdaugh's alleged motive.

But before a packed Colleton County courtroom July 20, Waters hinted the state's case against Murdaugh, 54, is "substantial," includes forensic evidence and is connected to the more than 80 other charges prosecutors have brought against him.

"It all came back to one person, and that is Alex Murdaugh," Waters said of the evidence in the case.

Earlier charges allege Murdaugh flexed his legal muscle and powerful family name to discreetly pocket some $8.5 million meant for his legal clients, law partners and others who trusted him. Murdaugh also has been charged with enlisting a hitman, Curtis Edward Smith, to shoot him in a botched $10 million life insurance scheme in September. And he has been charged with money laundering as part of an alleged drug trafficking scheme with Smith.

"A lot of that provides the background and the motive for what happened on June 7, 2021," Waters told the judge.

Both Waters and Harpootlian repeatedly expressed their desire to limit leaks about the case and try the case before a Colleton County jury - not the media.

Newman denied Murdaugh bail at the close of the 20-minute hearing. The ruling will have little practical effect. Murdaugh has already been detained for nine months - unable to afford his $7 million bail on a slew of financial charges.

The murder charges carry a penalty of 30 years to life in prison, though Attorney General Alan Wilson's office could also seek the death penalty.

The proceedings marked Murdaugh's first public appearance in months, a brief respite from the Richland County jail where the former volunteer prosecutor has been held since October.

Murdaugh, the scion of an influential family of Hampton lawyers, arrived at the courthouse in a navy two-piece jumpsuit and bright red-orange Nike sneakers, his trademark strawberry-blond hair buzzed to the scalp. He changed into a white button-down shirt and khaki pants before entering the courtroom.

A stark reminder of his precipitous fall from grace lingered not far behind where he sat.

A portrait of Buster Murdaugh Jr., Alex's grandfather and the longtime elected prosecutor for the 14th Judicial Circuit, hung on the back wall of the courtroom as his grandson raised a handcuffed right hand and pleaded not guilty to the double-murder charges.

"How shall you be tried?" Waters asked him.

"By God and my country," Murdaugh responded.

If convicted in the shooting deaths of his wife and son, Murdaugh - whose father, grandfather and great-grandfather served for 86 straight years as the elected local solicitor - would go down as one of the most notorious criminals in South Carolina history.

The slayings have gripped the world's attention, combining with Murdaugh's personal unraveling to spawn a wave of headlines, true-crime podcasts, book deals and cable news documentaries.

Murdaugh had been the only known person of interest in the State Law Enforcement Division's investigation into the deaths of Maggie and Paul. Murdaugh himself reported finding their bodies shortly after 10 p.m. June 7, 2021, telling the 911 dispatcher in a hysterical voice that his wife and son were "shot badly."

Murdaugh's defense attorneys, Harpootlian and Jim Griffin, have criticized SLED's investigation, arguing that state police narrowly focused on their client and didn't give serious consideration to other possible suspects.

The pair have vowed to fight the charges. They maintain Murdaugh had nothing to do with his wife and son's deaths and loved them "more than anything in the world."

Prosecutors and Murdaugh's defense attorneys huddled for some 15 minutes before the bond hearing began. When Newman arrived, the lawyers disclosed they had agreed to request a gag order and to seal any pre-trial motions discussing evidence.

Harpootlian said he would officially submit the request to Newman in the coming days.

Yet the judge seemed skeptical.

"It's a public matter and a public trial, and certainly matters that need to be sealed can be sealed to preserve the rights of all parties," Newman said. "The court understands that, but at the same time, wants to make it clear we will not have any private motion - public matters will be public."

Pete Strom, a Columbia lawyer and former U.S. attorney for South Carolina from 1993-96, said such gag orders are typically used to ensure jurors don't read or hear about potential evidence that isn't introduced and vetted in the courtroom. Pre-trial stories can limit the pool of eligible jurors in a given county who haven't yet made up their minds about a case, Strom said. They also can taint a jury pool, which would warrant a request for a retrial, he said.

"Nobody wants to go through the time and expense of trying this case multiple times," Strom said.

The 2021 slayings came as the Murdaugh family faced another crisis.

At the time of his death, Paul Murdaugh was headed toward trial in a wrongful death lawsuit that blamed the then-underage boy of drunkenly driving a boat into a Beaufort County bridge piling, ejecting all six passengers and killing 19-year-old Mallory Beach.

An attorney for the Beach family was seeking access to Alex Murdaugh's financial records, disclosures that could have revealed his hefty debts and drawn attention to his money-shifting practices.

But a hearing on those financial records, scheduled for mid-June 2021, was canceled after Paul Murdaugh's death.